We are trying out a new format on the podcast beginning this week. There’s the usual news and an album review from Mark (Keys to Ascension II) but then I take part in a discussion of Mark’s 2 Pence which is about how the Internet has changed how we find out about our favourite band and we also have a chance to discuss an email from Joseph Cottrell about the authenticity of the current touring Yes band compared with Anderson Rabin Wakeman – ARW.

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Theme music

The music I use is the last movement of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. This has been used as introduction music at many Yes concerts. My theme music is not take from a live concert – I put it together from the following two creative commons sources: thanvannispen and archive.org

29 thoughts on “Favourites from the Internet plus Yes or Anderson Rabin Wakeman – which is more authentic? 240”

So, the condensed version: glad to know we’re almost entirely in agreement on Who Is Yes (Benoit David notwithstanding, eh, hoser?) 🙂

ARW: Rabin has a HUGE film scoring career, Wakeman burned out on touring long ago; Anderson always gets distracted by the next project – remember the Anderson-Ponty Band? Like we’ll ever hear from them again…

Video of the May 10, 1975 QPR show is my number one internet favorite – MORE Moraz!

I had a long reply which the internet at too! (Kevin – you should check that on your site.) I mostly talked about Jon Anderson’s short attention span, which you alluded to and mentioned the Anderson-Ponty Band as an example.

Oh, and BTW – WOW! Hit Parader and Circus magazines… haven’t thought of those in YEARS! I remember it was either in late ’76 or early ’77 in one of those mags – they had something like a roundup of just random stuff that was happening – and there was just this one sentence: “…Rick Wakeman has rejoined Yes…” and I was like “HOLY SHIT!” and then the next thing you, “Going For The One” arrives!

That ’75 concert would be my choice too. I didn’t see it when ir was broadcast. I saw them play at Newcastle’s City Hall two nights running earlier that year and was really frustrated that when the QPR gig was on telly we were away in Edinburgh with no access to a telly.

Jeremy! Thank you! You have solved a mystery for me: I have been trying to figure out why this apparently professionally produced concert film was never released… started wondering if maybe it was a BBC TV thing, and apparently I was correct. Thanks!

Wow first of all thank you both for a great show was outstanding as always.
I agree with you both wholeheartedly on who is Yes with out question.
I have to say for me way back in the 70’s there was not a whole lot about Yes because they would not play them on the radio cause there songs were to long which in and of it self makes me mad as hell even to this day they have so many albums and tracks to play and they play the same ones over and over again all good people long distance runaround roundabout.
Thank god for pay radio which at least you may catch a deep track.The first Yes I heard ever in a live event was the King Biscuit Flower Hour the first one to air on FM in my area was when Relayer came out so that would have been around 74 -75 but I remember listing in sheer amazement.
Funny thing about the internet I think more of YouTube I would have to say that the beat club videos are amazing to see them so young before all the fame and you can see just how great they were going to be. Even with Peter Banks and then when Steve Howe came in just never seen anyone play a guitar like that ever!

Funny I just looked up that show and it was in 1974 in Boston god I love the internet…
they open with sound chaser…

What’s generally referred to as “the internet” is the world wide web, but before the web there was online Yes discussion. I started using Usenet in 1986 and there was an alt.music.progressive newsgroup on there. Change of employers meant I missed the emergence of alt.music.yes, which I devoured voraciously from about 1992. I did look at that newsgroup’s archives then, and saw the excitement of the news about “Union” the previous year.
Around this time there was as also a printed Yes fanzine in the UK produced by Tiz Hay under the banner of her “Yes Music Circle”. I became aware of this from a small ad in the back of Q and subscribed for a while.
My most immediate memory of on-line Yes news is from March 1996. I’d known that the ASHWR lineup were regrouping and performing in San Luis Obispo but had no idea what they’d actually play. So, the morning I got into work, and checked alt.music.yes to see this dream setlist was astonishing. After the frustration of fission, fusion, and fission again, they’d come together in what seemed the best possible combination and played material they hadn’t touched for decades in some cases was amazing. I’d never have found out what had been played until the release of KTA otherwise, so this was an unforgettable example of the immediacy of online coverage.
I was glad to hear you mention The Friday Rock Show. Yes, of course, it could be a bit NWOBHM dominated (I, too, share your penchant for the likes of Janice Long and would rather hear, say The Teardrop Explodes than Saxon) but Tommy Vance brought Yes into my life in a number of ways. The first was the first ever Friday Rock Show in November 1978 atypically comprised the whole of one of Yes’s Wembley shows from that Summer and the first time I ever heard what the band could do live. And a little over a year later, Tommy, in his ultra-deadpan way announced that Jon and Rick had left and that Trevor and Geoff had come in. I think he scooped the UK music press with that, and I was left bemused at what this new version of the band could possibly be like.

While I cherish your scripted content and crisp, measured delivery, I think the conversational back-and-forth works really well too, and I hope that you and Mark have a timeslot that works well for you both to record the two-way sections. Keep up the great work.

Thank you very much for your comment. You took me back down memory lane when you discussed the Usenet and the newsgroup archives. Hard to believe that was at one time considered so modern.
Thank you also for your kind words in regard to our new approach to the show. I really enjoy doing to conversations with Kevin as well. Hope others feel the same.

Great shout Dave. I still have the cassette recording I made of that 78 Yes gig which was on the Tommy Vance Friday night show. It was the Tormato tour. Yes played at Wembley arena. I went to one of the concerts and the BBC broadcast was from the saturday night if I remember correctly.

On the subject of Prog Rock on the radio, there was Alan Freeman on saturday afternoons during the mid-late seventies. Also when I lived in Newcastle, on Metro Radio there was a great show on sunday nights. I wish I could remember the name of the presenter. He played excellent music and also had guests. I remember an interview he did with Genesis.

Another blast from that same past, also on Metro Radio, I remember an interview/phone in with Rick Wakeman on the James Whale show, very late at night. I called in and asked Rick if he was still in touch with the band. This must have been ’75 or ’76. He told me that he’d been talking to “Fishy” which was his name for Chris.

Mark, you made a very interesting and pertinent remark last week that I completely agree with: (paraphrasing) “I don’t mind that Jon Anderson isn’t in the band any more.” Which pretty much goes along with this: I do still care that Chris isn’t there but I don’t have any problems with Billy taking over.

I understand your feelings. I’m sort of the same way with Chris. Mainly because he was so devoted to the band…he never let outside things interfer. .especially with Yes. I feel Jon was and still is easily distracted.

Oh yeah, I remember Rockline on FM radio. I remember when Rockline had an interview with Jon, Chris and Trevor after 90125. It could have been Big Generator, but I think it was 90125 – this was over 30 years ago so excuse my failing memory. At any rate they took phone calls, and a starstruck and breathless young woman managed to get on. She said something like “oh my god oh my god, you guys are sooooo hot!” I think it was Chris who replied “well… that’s certainly a first!” Of course by ‘you guys’ she really meant ‘Trevor’ who really was a lot cuter than the others. I can’t remember what she asked Trevor but it might have been something related to his hair care.

Hi Jeremy – I like the broom story! Great! All members of yes have done outside things. That’s pretty well established. But none of them seem to flit from one project to the next like Jon Anderson. But you are right – they’ve all done it. I think the difference is a matter of degree. And I certainly thought the Anderson-Ponty Band would last longer than one album and tour the way it was promoted.

Apparently there is about one cubic foot of original wood in the U.S.S. Constitution – everything else having been replaced many times… but it’s still a commissioned vessel in the U.S Navy named “Constitution.” 🙂

Well…..I haven’t seen ARW yet, so it’s hard to say with certainty which is more “authentic”. I will say this though. I saw Yes the other night here in Vegas. I’ve been going to Yes shows since 1975, and have only missed The Ladder, Mag, and SLO (which wasn’t a tour). The Drama/Tales show I just saw was right up there, for me, with all of the top notch Yes shows I’ve seen over the years. These guys were doing what they do……what they’ve been doing…..for all these years. They were energized, excellent, tight, and exuded a love for their craft and their legacy that was palpable. Jon Davison was absolutely mind blowing. We were all worried about looking over to stage right and not seeing our beloved Chris, but we needn’t have been. He nailed his performance and cemented himself in our hearts as the bassist for Yes. He must have locked himself in a room and done nothing but learned to play Chris Squire licks, and not come out until he had them all down. Even the Taurus pedals. We were amazed as they presented Drama, perhaps the most Squirecentric album in the catalogue without a hiccup. Every heart beat altering thud, pluck, and note. Jay Schellen even had everything nailed down perfectly. Even the wild percussion/drum solo in Ritual.

The main thing is….these guys are Yes. There is something beyond the music, and beyond the membership of the band even, which is hard to put your finger on. At eh beginning of every Yes show, there is feeling that my wife and I share. An electricity. A vibe. Butterflies in the stomach as the theme music begins. It’s the only band that does this to me. Yes is Yes, and there can only be one.

I have tickets to the ARW show, and I’m really looking forward to it. Primarily, for me, it’s because I want to see Trevor Rabin play rock guitar once more in my lifetime. But not only do I NOT expect them to be some kind of “more authentic” Yes because, just by virtue of who they are, but frankly, I don’t even expect them to be 1/2 as good as Yes. NOBODY is as good as Yes. Not even former Yes members. In fact, I hope that they don’t spend the whole show doing Yes music. I’d love for they to put band arrangements to some of their better known solo stuff. I’d love to hear them play Olias, Can’t Look Away, Six Wives, Never is a Long Long Time, and few deep cuts from 90125 and BG, and perhaps the whole of Talk, then And You and I, (because I love the Trevor version). But if they come out and do Tales, and Close To The Edge, and all the 70’s deep stuff that Yes does, it’s going to seem just a little off to me. That’s not Trevor’s forte, and Jon can’t sing that stuff as it was written anymore either. Look, I’m sure I’m going to love the show. Please don’t get me wrong. But the working Yes is always my go to favorite band. Always. They keep the music going, the legacy going, and are the true messengers of the music on into the future.

Steve – I agree with you completely. I almost bought tickets to the Vegas show but opted for Reno instead (you never can tell what the weather will do in Vegas at this time of year!) …

So – the show last night was fantastic! Of the six times I’ve seen them this probably ranks as number three – it’s mighty difficult to top Relayer in ’76 and Going For The One in ’77.

Strangely, the best thing about last night’s show was that it was in basically a very large ballroom with a small stage with very little headroom, so the giant LED screens that they’ve been using were not an option, the focus of the evening being instead completely on the music. And BOY HOWDY did they deliver! Steve was on fire: I hope I have that kind of energy when I’m his age (a mere 12 years away); Geoff was terrific as well – he scorched earth during the synthesizer solo at the end of “Revealing…”; Jon was as terrific as always, that guy never disappoints; Billy was great although the bass was a bit muddled in the mix – if it had been Chris you know it would have punched right through; and Jay… ummm… how do I say this… OK: sorry, Alan, but your drumming in recent years has become as old and flabby as you have. Damn, that hurt, but Jay was SO GOOD… and obviously having the time of his life!

I last saw Yes March 1st, 2013 on the opening night of the Three Album Tour (cue the Gilligan’s Island music in my head!) and now it seems like that was a completely different band. Mind you, they were great, but it felt like “here we are, good ol’ Yes, with a new singer, and we’re still relevant!” Last night in Reno I saw a hard working, hard rocking, completely new and cohesive band do some of the most complex, proggy works of art ever written, seemingly effortlessly.

With all the discussion we’ve had here this week about “who is Yes?” I figured that if the performance could bring me to tears, then it definitely was Yes. Well, it DEFINITELY was YES!

(already have my ARW tickets for Salt Lake City in November, as well…)

It will be interesting to hear your comments after you’ve been to see AWR.

Authenticity aside, it made me think of the last time I saw Yes in 1980. That was the Drama tour. A week or so later I went to see Jon Anderson who was touring his Song of Seven album. Of the two concerts, Anderson’s was by far the most charismatic and entertaining. There was a certain frisson. Perhaps Yes seemed somewhat underwhelming compared to earlier gigs I attended, although Drama is an excellent album.

So, Kevin – After all of this last week’s discussion about “who is Yes?” (so glad I was able to bring up what turned out to be such an interesting topic!) AND looking through the concert program I bought in Reno last night, this most amazing (well, to us, anyway, I suppose) bit of Yes trivia managed to crawl up into my conscious mind: there have been more MEMBERS of Yes than there are Yes studio albums! That must mean something, right? More than likely it goes a long way toward explaining the complexity of the Yes Family Tree.